Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Arctic Weather = a productive day off!

Like most of the country, wind chills are below zero in Milwaukee, so my work is closed today. This is the third paid day off I have experienced in 2014 and I jump for joy each time I hear that we are closing. While I'd love to have off when it is warmer out, I also enjoy staying indoors and catching up on things around the house.

Here's how I spent my day!

I soaked some dried pinto beans overnight and cooked them up this morning. This was my first time cooking dried beans, which probably seems odd for a vegetarian who eats a whole lot of beans and loves them. From now on, I will only keep a few organic/non-bpa cans on hand for emergencies.

I placed an Amazon order, which included a silpat. I've been wanting to purchase one for at least two years now and when the price dropped to $15, I knew I had to add it to my cart. I also ordered an arm band for my iPhone. It actually works with my Commuter Otterbox case, so I don't have to take my phone out of the case each time I go to the gym or exercise outdoors. I can't wait to get both in the mail!

I am really loving the book Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath, so I kept plugging along with reading that on my Kindle.

I have been wanting to make lentil soup for a while now, so I finally accomplished that goal too! I used this recipe from Food.com to make a vegetarian version. Lentil soup is my favorite, especially with some greek yogurt, avocado and hot sauce on top! It turned out pretty good--just a bit bland, but hot sauce always fixes that!

Days off call for beauty rituals I don't always have time for or forget to do, like applying masks. I tried this sample out and it was quite nice.

I also got caught up on my coursera nutrition class, which I am loving so far! From reading so much nutritional information as a hobby and from studying for the NASM personal training test, I am familiar with a lot of what is being taught. But, I have learned a few knew things about food labels, people's perceptions about their diets, what people eat around the world, etc.

I managed to get a lot of movement in today too. More on my indoor workouts tomorrow!

What a fabulous and unexpected day off! I appreciated having it in the middle of the week like this!

4 comments:

Oh, hey, that arm band, try wrapping it around your bike handles as a cheap way to attach and protect your phone for MapMyRide, etc. I usually just dump my phone in my carry bag, but keep wanting that armband type of holder for myself. I know someone who had it on her bike and I thought it was just a new way of attaching the phone to the bike.

I've only used dried beans in soup. I'm wary of subbing dried for canned because so many recipes call for 15 oz cans. Although my dad just sent me an article about how bpa-free cans really aren't bpa-free, so I should probably stop using canned beans. I just saw frozen beans which intrigued me.